


The World According to Hope Ellis-Caffrey

by storywriter55



Series: Milestones [10]
Category: White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: Big Sisters, Family Feels, Gen, Sharing wisdom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28644012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storywriter55/pseuds/storywriter55
Summary: Hope educates her new baby brother on the facts of life and gives him advice on how to deal with the many people in their lives. Part of the 'Milestones' series (5.2 years)
Relationships: Neal Caffrey/Sara Ellis
Series: Milestones [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/80614
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	The World According to Hope Ellis-Caffrey

Five-year-old Hope Ellis-Caffrey sat in her bedroom, reading a book – well, as much as a five-year-old _could_ read a book. She loved having books, manipulating them, lovingly turning their pages, gazing at the pictures, recognizing the letters and trying to make sense of them on the written page. Truth be told, she recognized a fair number of words and she was smart as a whip, making educated guesses at what was printed on the page.

Now that she had a baby brother, Hope was enjoying playing the role of big sister – able to do all the things a newborn baby couldn’t possibly do. He was cute with his fair head of hair and big green eyes but he could also be very annoying, especially when he cried, which seemed to happen an awful lot.

He cried when he needed his diaper changed, cried when he was hungry, when he was tired, when he needed a cuddle, amounting to an awful lot of crying for such a little guy. Her dad had explained that that’s how babies communicated their needs but Hope was eager for him to start talking so she wouldn’t have to be woken up in the middle of the night by his insistent wailing. 

As if on cue, she heard soft moans coming from the bedroom next door – a precursor to the familiar cries – and she cringed.

WCWCWC

One floor down, Sara Ellis stood in the kitchen, hands in dirty dishwater as she scrubbed a casserole dish from last night’s dinner. Her husband had tried to warn her that cheese would stick on that surface but she’d been too lazy to properly line the dish and now, she was paying the price while he was out dutifully doing the grocery run. 

The soft sounds of Liam’s moans wafted down the stairs and she wiped her brow and let out a long suffering sigh.

‘Hope!’ she called out from her spot at the sink.

She heard Hope’s footfalls as she made her way to the top of the stairs.

‘What?’ Hope asked, over the increasingly loud sounds of her little brother’s cries.

‘Honey, can you give Liam his soother? It must have fallen out of his mouth’ she asked.

Hope didn’t answer but Sara heard her retreating towards the bedrooms as she waited for silence to return to the house, her attention focussed on the offensive pot. 

Why didn’t she ever listen to Neal?

WCWCWC

Hope turned the corner into her baby brother’s room and peeked into his crib, eyes searching for the soother that would hopefully put an end to his misery. She spotted it on the far side of the crib and struggled to reach it through the crib’s bars, her little face plastered against the side of the crib. Her fingers wiggled madly as she reached for the blue soother, without success. 

There was a solution to every problem – or so her parents had told her on multiple occasions. She was going to need help to complete her mission and Hope was reminded of the little step stool she used in the bathroom in order to brush her teeth and comb her hair. She disappeared for a moment, returning with the little pink stool and hoisting herself up on it as she held on to the bars of the crib for support.The sudden movement seemed to catch baby Liam’s attention and his eyes moved to her face, looming over his – although he continued to scream as if there was no tomorrow.

‘What’s going on up there?’ Sara called from downstairs, impatience obvious in her voice.

‘I’ve got it!’ Hope shouted back as her fingers finally found the soother and examined it. She recalled her dad telling her it was meant to fit only one way; if she put it in upside down Liam would just spit it out. She struggled to place it in the baby’s mouth as his head thrashed back and forth on the mattress, his cries intensifying as she finally managed to place the object between his lips with a sigh of relief. He began sucking dutifully, his breathing still erratic but the cries finally subsiding.

‘Why do you cry so much, Liam?’ she asked as the screams dissolved into uneven sobs. ’Talking works a lot better. That way you can tell people what you want and everybody understands you.’ 

‘Is everything okay up there?’ she heard from downstairs.

‘Yes’ she called back as she shook her head. Her mom was a screamer, always had been. Whenever she got tired or irritated she would rant and rave, unlike her dad who hardly ever raised his voice. 

‘Don’t worry if Mommy shouts sometimes. Daddy says she’s just impatient... I’m not sure what that means but I think it has something to do with losing her temper. Daddy can always make her laugh though, so don’t worry if she looks a little angry, she’ll smile at you and hug you right after.

She stared down at her brother who appeared to be fixated on her voice, his eyes still brimming with unshed tears.

‘Mommy works for a ‘surance’ company and she has a very important job. She helps people find things that were stolen from them, like paintings and jewels. But she doesn’t get to keep them, she has to give them back’ Hope explained as Liam’s breathing slowed.

‘Mommy’s really pretty. She has makeup and high heel shoes and sometimes she’ll let me put on some lipstick... but don’t take her stuff without asking’ she warned, thinking of a few incidents when she wished she’d had an older sibling to warn her about the wrath of Sara Ellis.

‘Once, I borrowed a pair of her high heel shoes to wear with my princess dress and I broked the heel off’ she said, pausing for dramatic effect. ‘Mommy was _really_ mad but Daddy fixed it with his magic hands. That’s what Mommy says when Daddy is hugging her or tickling her – she says he has magic hands. I’m not sure why she says that but... it makes her laugh and she can’t stay mad at him.

Hope stared down at the baby, her armpits pressed up against the edge of the crib in a most uncomfortable way and on a whim, she decided she’d be more comfy if she climbed in to join him. Hope was very agile – her dad said she’d gotten that from him – and she propped her leg up onto the edge of the mattress and threw her other leg over the top, careful not to step on her newborn brother as she let herself fall, sitting by his feet, back pressed up against the back of the crib.

‘That’s better’ she declared as she opened her legs to accommodate Liam’s tiny feet. 

‘You can get _anything_ you want from Daddy, you just need to look at him until he flinches so just keep staring and if you smile it helps too’ she advised as Liam’s breathing began to return to normal and his eyes moved around the room. ‘Daddy has a new job as a ‘thenticator’. I’m not sure exactly what it is but he comes home all excited and he tells Mommy about these treasures he plays with at work all day. It makes him happy.’

Hope began to play with Liam’s legs, gently pumping them up and down as he began to relax at all the attention he was getting. 

‘Mommy and Daddy kiss a lot and they’re always giggling. It’s very annoying but you’ll get used to it.Oh, and don’t _ever_ go into their bedroom when the door is closed. They wrestle in there and they play games like piggy back and sometimes when it’s quiet in the house, I can hear Mommy making strange noises and she keeps saying Daddy’s name over and over again and Daddy sounds like he’s lifting something really heavy... anyway, just stay out of there when _that’s_ happening.’

Hope got a faraway look in her eyes and she grabbed Liam’s tiny feet and tickled them as he squirmed.‘Afterwards, Mommy is always in a good mood so whatever Daddy is doing in there... it works.’

Her mind seemed to wander. ‘Sometimes they argue, but don’t get scared. Mommy yells and Daddy usually just listens and he says ‘ _Sara, come on..._ ’ a lot and sometimes it works but other times, she just whines and says ‘ _Neeeal!_ ’. That’s Daddy’s name, Neal Caffrey and you and me are ‘Ellis-Caffrey’ because that’s Mommy and Daddy’s names put together.’

‘Oh, and if you’re in the car with Mommy, don’t say _anything_ about the way she drives because she’ll get mad at you. Once, she hit another car when she was backing out of the driveway and Daddy rolled his eyes and she got mad at him just for that so...’ 

‘Guess what Liam?’ she said, half expecting an answer as Liam continued to gurgle. ‘Uncle Mozzie is coming for dinner. He’s your godfather, that means he’s supposed to take care of you and give you everything you want. He’s got a million houses and we’re not allowed to visit _any_ of them. One time, Daddy took me to one of them and uncle Mozzie got mad and said it wasn’t a safe house if everybody knew about it.’

Hope paused, puzzled. She’d never quite figured out what that meant.

‘Uncle Mozzie comes over a lot to eat. He says Daddy has a good wine collection... Sometimes, he plays with me and my dolls but he tries to pretend he’s not having fun... but I can tell he is.’ 

Liam sputtered and the soother popped out of his mouth and onto the mattress as he made a whining sound at the loss of it. Hope reached lazily for it and placed it back unceremoniously between his lips as he resumed sucking.

‘Grandma June is your godmother. You’re lucky! She’s _rich_ and she lives in a big house in M’nhatin. She has servants and everything... I used to live in her house when I was little. Daddy showed me my old bedroom. It has a huge mural that he painted and there’s a terrace outside where you can sit. Mommy says we moved here so I could have a backyard to play in.’

Hope’s eyes wandered to the window, the sun shining through and she stifled a yawn.

‘Grandma June always gives me ice cream when we visit and she lets me play her piano – but Daddy always says to be careful ‘cause it’s a ‘hare-loom’ – I’m not sure what that is...’

Liam’s silence seemed to egg her on; she still had so much to tell him.

‘ _My_ godparents are Uncle Peter and Auntie Elizabeth. Uncle Peter is Daddy’s best friend and he’s always telling him what to do – but Daddy just does what he wants in the end. He says what Uncle Peter doesn’t know won’t hurt him. They used to work together at the ‘SPI’ or something... Uncle Peter is big and strong and he has a gun because he’s some sort of policeman but _I’ve_ never seen it. Daddy says guns are bad and we shouldn’t have them in the house.’

‘Auntie Elizabeth makes the best macaroni and cheese but you’re too little to have any. Sorry...’ she said, not sounding sorry in the least. ‘You’ll just have to wait ‘till you’re bigger but _I_ can have some annnytime I want!’

Liam didn’t seem bothered by this declaration and he kept gurgling as Hope continued to talk.

‘Uncle Peter comes to get me all the time on Saturdays and he takes me places like the library or the museum or to the park and he lets me hold Satchmo’s leash. Satchmo is my best friend... except for Olivia Mason. She’s my ‘people’ best friend and Satchmo is my ‘dog’ best friend. When you get big like me, you’ll go to school and learn all kinds of things and you’ll have lost of friends. But that won’t be for a long time, ‘cause you’re so little.’

Hope moved up on the mattress and laid her head next to Liam’s as she rubbed his tummy, watching as his eyes fluttered shut at her gentle touch.

‘You’re little but Mommy says I was even _littler_ than you when I was born. I was this tiny’ she said as she motioned with her hands.

‘But now, look how big I am’ she declared proudly. 

‘Daddy’s making asparagus quiche for dinner. I _hate_ asparagus... so he’s going to make a different kind for me. Daddy makes really good food but Mommy can only make toast and sometimes Kraft Dinner when Daddy has to work late.Mommy’s really good at other things though, like reading stories. Sometimes, she’ll lie down with me at bedtime and we’ll fall asleep together. She smells nice and she cuddles me in her arms and when I wake up she’d gone but my pillow still smells like her.’ 

Hope was having trouble keeping her eyes open. The only sound in the room was Liam’s regular breathing now that he’d fallen asleep and she turned to place an arm around him, snuggling up close and grabbing for the baby blanket to cover them both.

‘You’ll see... there’s lots to do and Mommy and Daddy are the bestest parents... but I don’t think we should tell them that.’

WCWCWC

‘Hey’ Neal called out as he stepped into the house, arms laden with grocery bags.

Sara looked up from the sink where she was still struggling with the pot and she rolled her eyes at him as he put everything down on the nearby counter.

‘You’re not still working on that thing, are you?’ he asked as he reached into one of the bags, producing a pot scrubber and walking over to where a wilted Sara stood, looking none too pleased. He laced his arms around her waist, pressing her up against the counter with his body as he reached around and began scrubbing the pot while his lips moved to her neck.

‘Neeaal!’ she whined, almost immediately letting out a forced giggle. It had been two weeks since Liam’s arrival and she was still sore and tired. To Neal’s dismay, sex was still out of the question - at least for now.

His hands worked diligently at scrubbing the pot as his lips began to roam and Sara’s bad mood seemed to dissipate in response. 

‘I have to admit, this is a lot more fun with you here’ she murmured as he pressed up against her.

‘First of all...’ he said, between kisses,‘...you have to let it soak for a while.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Sara answered, her mind wandering to Liam who had been quiet for the past few minutes. 

‘Yeah...’ Neal answered lewdly, his hands moving to her hips.

He gave her just enough room so she could turn to face him and he planted a kiss on her lips which left no doubt as to his intentions. She touched his face and gave him a sad smile. 

‘The kids are upstairs...’ she reminded him as she pulled away. 

‘Awww’ Neal whined, realizing they might have to postpone playtime until a more appropriate time.

‘I need to check on Liam. He was crying a little while ago’ she said, pulling out of his grasp and heading for the stairs with Neal following close behind.

The house was eerily quiet and they made their way into Liam’s room to check on their newborn son. They were totally unprepared for the sight of their two offspring, curled up together under Liam’s tiny baby blanket, both of them blissfully asleep.

They stood, arms wound around each other as they took in the sight, Hope’s long legs curled up into the small space, her arms cradling the newborn baby.

Sara sighed. ’She’s going to be a _great_ big sister’ she said as Neal grinned in response.

La fin


End file.
